Just when victory seemed imminent, an incredibly devastating piece of bad news struck the merfolk.
The merfolk suffered heavy losses in the war against the rebels, and after this blow, they were no longer able to reclaim the West Sea Islands.
With the help of the Feathered Clan, the Merfolk barely managed to stabilize the situation.
The merfolk abandoned their attempt to reclaim the fallen islands, consolidated their current territory, and began to confront the numerous sea creatures within the rebel army.
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Chapter Thirteen: The Spark
During that war, when victory seemed within reach, the wise men of the merfolk decisively issued the order for a full-scale attack.
In this attack, the wise men of the merfolk and several merfolk mages who had reached the level of advanced mages led a large number of intermediate mages to participate in the attack.
Under their powerful magic, the enemies who stood in their way were utterly crushed.
After cutting through the enemy lines, the merfolk sages sensed something was wrong; they had advanced too far and become separated from the main force.
Just as they were preparing to retreat, they gradually realized that they had been surrounded; it turned out that the enemy's target this time was them.
Realizing that the war might be lost, the rebel leaders devised a very risky plan to turn the tide.
That means drawing the strongest warriors from the army to lure the merfolk's elite forces into their trap. Then, concentrate forces to eliminate the merfolk's elite forces first, before turning back to crush the enemy army.
In retrospect, their plan has undoubtedly succeeded. Although the loss of a large number of powerful warriors led to an unexpectedly rapid collapse of the main army on the front lines.
A large number of powerful beings who had reached the second level of the Extraordinary Realm appeared around the Merfolk sages and numerous Merfolk mages, surrounding them.
"attack!"
Led by two powerful high-level mages and a high-level warrior, countless spells rained down upon the merfolk mages. Meanwhile, numerous mid-level warriors began burning their life force, charging recklessly towards the merfolk mages, intending to perish together with them.
After a round of attacks combining magic and battle aura, apart from a few powerful individuals who had reached the level of advanced mages, the other mid-level merfolk suffered heavy casualties, with very few surviving.
At that moment, one of the two peak-level mages in the rebel army joined forces with the peak-level warrior, leading several advanced mages and warriors to begin besieging the merman sage.
Just as the sage of the merfolk was under siege, the remaining peak-level mage began to command many powerful members of the rebel army to encircle and annihilate the remaining merfolk mages.
Meanwhile, in the distance, the powerful Feather Clan members and some remaining Merfolk members who had already discovered the situation were rushing to provide support, but it was too late for them.
At this time, apart from the sage of the mermaid race, all other magicians of the mermaid race had perished.
Upon discovering that reinforcements from the Feathered Clan and the Merfolk were about to arrive, among the powerful warriors besieging the Merfolk sage, a high-ranking Merfolk warrior gritted his teeth and made a decision.
He unleashed his full fighting spirit and charged towards the merman sage. Just as he was about to reach the merman sage, he exploded with a loud "BOOM!"
The high-level warrior of the Shark Clan seized this fleeting opportunity. In the instant the Merfolk Sage was severely injured, he pierced the Merfolk Sage's chest with his greatsword.
"No!"
The powerful members of the Feather Clan and Mermaid Clan who had already arrived watched this scene in despair and let out a roar of unwilling anger.
"attack!"
The shark-man warrior who delivered the final fatal blow to the merman sage, upon discovering that the winged and merman warriors who had come to his aid were in a state of brief disorientation due to extreme fear, decisively issued an order to attack to the many sea-race warriors among the rebels present.
The powerful members of the Feathered Clan and the Merfolk Clan were still gripped by extreme fear following the death of the Merfolk sage, and had no will to fight. Pursued by the many powerful rebels with high morale, they fled in disarray.
After their morale soared, the rebels pressed their advantage and routed the merfolk and many other sea creatures that were subservient to them, forcing them to flee in panic.
In this battle, the merfolk not only lost their top fighters, but also most of their strong and medium-sized members and a vast number of ordinary people. The Sea King Clan, who once dominated the Western Sea Islands, vanished.
A century ago, the renowned sage of the Merfolk, a powerful figure already famous throughout the Tianyuan Continent, also perished in this great war.
When detailed information about this war began to spread, it caused a great stir among the various races of the Tianyuan Continent.
All the tribes were terrified by this and greatly strengthened their border defenses and became much more vigilant against their subordinate tribes.
The war between the merfolk and the various marine races seemed to be a trigger, and the Tianyuan Continent, which had been at peace for decades, slowly began to descend into chaos.
Following this defeat, several sea tribes that remained subservient to the merfolk rebelled. If it weren't for the support of powerful members of the winged race, the rebels would likely have continued their attacks on the merfolk.
In the 131st year after Yuanhao fell into slumber, the demon race living in the Origin Mountains launched a beast tide against the elf race living in the Forest of Life.
Faced with this beast tide that gathered millions of wild beasts and countless powerful ferocious beasts, the Elven race relied on the large number of treants guarding the Tree of Life and their incredibly powerful nature magic in the forest to resist the beast tide's attack.
Moreover, after defeating the beast tide, the Tree of Life, whose roots had spread throughout the Forest of Life, not only grew greatly after consuming a large amount of flesh and blood, but also gave birth to a large number of Fruits of Life, giving birth to many more talented first-generation elves.
After being attacked by the demon race, the proud elves were naturally unwilling to accept defeat. Furthermore, after discovering that the flesh and blood of beasts greatly aided the growth of the Tree of Life, they chose to launch a retaliatory attack against the demon race.
However, after leaving the Forest of Life, and without the help of the Tree of Life and countless powerful treants, the elves proved utterly vulnerable against the mighty demons and countless ferocious beasts. Large numbers of elven warriors and mages perished in the Origin Mountains, with only a tiny fraction managing to escape back to the Forest of Life.
After this blow, the proud Elven race became even more closed off and resistant to outsiders. The Elven high command even issued an order forbidding any Elf from leaving the Forest of Life without permission.
After their failed attack on the elves, the demon race organized a small horde to attack a human city. However, they too failed to breach the human city's strong and towering walls.
After repelling the beast tide that emerged from the Origin Mountains, the human race clashed with the beastmen of the western continent of Tianyuan.
In this battle, several humans and orcs who had reached the second level of the extraordinary realm even lost their lives.
The human soldiers stationed in Bloodbath City sensed that war was imminent.
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Chapter Fourteen: Bloodbath
In the 132nd year of Yuanhao's slumber, the orcs launched a large-scale attack on the humans.
This attack was led by several of the most powerful orc races, and involved nearly 100 orc groups. Their combined forces exceeded one million.